March 9, 2011

3 Reasons Why RFID is Important for Safety Management

Safety management is changing. Traditionally people would use clipboards and pens, filing cabinets and spreadsheets to manage inspections and safety compliance. Just like how email changed the way we communicate, inspection software is allowing people to completely digitize their safety processes from beginning to end. At Field ID, we provide a leading inspection and safety compliance management system that people are using around the world to simplify safety management. Field ID uses a combination of mobile devices and the web to completely digitize the safety process. But the first step in conducting an inspection is identification. Whether you are identifying a chain sling or a harness, manual visual identification is not accurate or convenient.

Safety managers and inspectors are getting a huge benefit from using inspection software, but many of them are going the next step and using electronic identification. Companies like Holland 1916, are revolutionizing the way safety managers are identifying their assets by producing innovative tagging solutions that allow for electronic identification in combination with traditional identification.

Reason 1: Efficiency

Identifying something visually is extremely time consuming. Imagine looking at a dirty chain sling tag and trying to read the serial number. With RFID, all you do is wand the tag with a reader and you have the unique serial number right away. It is magnitudes faster. Think about scanning a barcode at your grocery store versus reading and writing down the barcode number. There is just no comparison.

Reason 2: Accuracy

Sometimes a “5” can look like an “R” to someone else. Visual identification is prone to human error, especially if there are multiple people and assets involved. Without proper accuracy when identifying something there is no real way to manage and maintain a proper safety audit trail. RFID completely eliminates this problem. Not only that, most RFID standards (include high frequency, ISO 15693) specify a globally unique serial number. You never have to worry about duplicate RFID tags.

Reason 3: Assurance

One of the big problems that inspection software solves is the ability to prove that an inspection was done. Paper-based inspections can essentially be backdated and conducted from someone’s living room. With inspection software, like Field ID, the system timestamps everything so you can’t backdate an inspection and you can capture the GPS location so you can prove the location of the inspection. RFID adds another level of assurance, because you can prove that the right asset was inspected.

The bottom line is that RFID can help you increase safety, reduce liability and save money. That is a win-win situation that just makes sense.

About Somen Mondal:

As the CEO and Co-Founder of Field ID, Somen is responsible for corporate vision, strategy, business growth and all-around customer satisfaction. With the help of his extraordinary team, Somen is committed to establishing Field ID as the global leader in inspection and safety compliance management (ISCM).

Somen holds a B.A.Sc. in Computer Engineering from the University of Toronto and an MBA from Queen’s University.

February 18, 2011

Challenges of OLD Inspection and Safety Compliance Management Processes

– Identifying the Asset

Identifying industrial assets by a serial number is time consuming enough on it’s own. This involves cross referencing the number with a long list of serial numbers probably in a notebook. But the challenge becomes even more daunting considering that industrial assets in the field can be covered in mud, dirt, grease, oil, etc making the serial number difficult to read

– Different Inspection Criteria for Different Assets

In the real world, there are thousands of different assets that each requires a different set of inspection criteria by multiple regulatory bodies, manufacturer’s suggestions, etc. Depending on the inspector to know the specific criteria for a myriad of assets is not reasonable.

– Scheduling Inspections

Many companies have thousands of different assets at multiple locations. Each asset may require inspection at a different time interval than the next. Maintaining this schedule with paper based processes is insane.

– Inefficient Inspection Processes Equal Unnecessary Cost

In the field, the inspector must A- Identify the asset. B- Choose the inspection criteria for that specific asset. C- Hand write the inspection results for each specific criteria for each asset….. And we haven’t even gotten to the backend administrative side of handling inspection paperwork

– Back End Paperwork

A safety audit trail must be maintained for each asset. This includes internal inspections, 3rd party inspections, safety certifications and manufacturer’s docs. When audits take place (announced or unannounced), all of this information must be presentable or repercussions are handed out.

This stuff will make your head spin once you wrap your mind around all of the assets these companies must keep track of. Why wouldn’t a company that must maintain safety compliance move to an RFID/Electronic Inspection & Safety Compliance Management System?

October 12, 2010

Disruptive technologies do not work with business as usual. Many people are adverse to change. If you are determined to do things the same way as you did yesterday, then don’t waste your time implementing disruptive technologies. Disruptive technologies require you to rethink the way you do things. They offer improvements and efficiencies, but only with altered processes.

In general we are very good at adopting disruptive technologies in our personal lives, but not so good at doing it while at work. For some reason we are willing to change our book buying behavior to buy books online or even buy digital books. However, we are loath to adopt RFID to change the way in which we manage, track or inspect assets at work. I wonder why?

Perhaps it is because we are terrified of making a mistake. Our old way, while imperfect and suboptimal, is a known and acceptable risk. A disruptive technology like RFID, while offering significant benefits to us individually and to the company, is, well, disruptive and involves risk. We need to let people know that taking a risk on a disruptive technology is a safe choice regardless of the outcome. We also need to let people know that the only way to get the benefit of a disruptive technology such as RFID is to rethink the surrounding processes. Implementation without process change is not worth the effort.

October 11, 2010

The benefits of using RFID are moving from the theoretical to the actual. As more organizations take advantage of RFID, actual results that document the benefits are being reported.

Today, the Aberdeen Group published a study of the benefits organizations gained from implementing RFID. Compared with organizations that did not use RFID, organizations that implemented RFID saw improvements in the availability of critical information to decision makers, in the ROI on the investment and in reducing labor costs. The benefits were measurable and significant. See http://v1.aberdeen.com/launch/report/benchmark/6518-RA-serialization-demand-visibility.asp for a copy of the full report.

September 14, 2010

People are expensive, and getting more so. So a very relevant question for business leaders is How do I get the most value from my employees? The Harvard Business Review recently answered the question in this way, “senior executives can get more bang for their buck by identifying targeted productivity-improvement efforts to increase both the efficiency and effectiveness of the interactions between workers.” RFID is a great productivity-improvement effort because it automates much of the administrative and data collection process. RFID allows your valuable people to focus on more important tasks.

August 13, 2010

Sometimes it is very difficult to attach an RFID tag and carrier to an asset. In those instances, an RFID enabled steel locking cable tie may be the ticket due to its flexibility. The steel locking cable tie can go around the entire asset, around a portion of the asset or thru a small openning on the asset. The RFID enabled steel locking cable tie from Holland 1916 is another tool to help organizations gain the benefits of RFID.

August 5, 2010

Holland 1916 and their UHF tag partner Xerafy are showcased in the latest RFID Network video that was just released this week. This episode covers everything from in-metal read range, durability, attachment methods and there are comparisons with other products on the market.

July 26, 2010

After living through the hype cycle of Walmart’s RFID for supply chain “mandate”, I shutter at the words “slap-n-ship”. Ok, there are applications when slapping an RFID label on a carton is all that is needed. However, the real ROI for RFID is in the tracking of high value objects that require a tag that can’t easily be removed. An embedded RFID tag provides the most secure and effective means of real-time tracking.

XERAFY has collaborated with Holland1916 to provide custom embedded tag solutions for industries such as oil and gas, construction, facility management, and manufacturing. Utilizing XERAFY’s PicoX embed-in-metal tag, Holland1916 is casting bolts containing UHF Gen2 RFID that is used for inventory management and to monitor equipment’s performance maintenance schedule.

July 15, 2010

We recently had a customer say, “If you want to be in the game, you have to have RFID.” Like ISO certification, liability insurance, or you pick the qualification, RFID is becoming mandatory to even getting a chance to quote new business in certain industries. As more and more major end users adopt RFID, the less chance non-RFID enabled products will have to compete. For those late adopters that argue, I will RFID enable when I have to. Take a second and forsee the argument that your early adopting competitors will make. They will tout the fact that they have way more experience and success with RFID than you do. The early adopters will gain a selling advantage.